Maja Slingerland

I am associated professor and lead several oilplam related projects, many excuted by PhD and MSc students under my guidance.

Currently I work in Indonesia (GYGA-II, ANGIN-II), Malaysia (with MPOB), Colombia (with CENIPALMA) on oil plam intercropping, oil palm livestock integration and on assessing yield gaps with the PALMSIM model. In Indonesia we work on closing such yield gaps by better management practices with smallholder farmers (GYGAII). In Central Kalimantan (SENSOR) Rosa de Vos and myself investigate pre- and post certification differences in practices and socio-economic aspects between certified and non certified oilpalm smallholders. In Indonesia we also work on policy advise regarding implementation and acceptance of Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil certification (ANGIN-II). In cacao I support research on understanding the interface between smallholders and service delivery on pruning in Ghana (Faustina Obeng Adomaa in WOTRO), on integrated soil fertility management in Cameroon (Urcil kenfack Essougang in COCOASOILS) and on climate smart interventions in Ghana (Selma van der Haar in CIFOR). In Ivory Coast I support research of Eva Goudsmit to understand nutrient distribution over cocoa organs over time related to cocoa physiology, phenology, seasonality and fertiliser application (WOTRO). In projects I work closely together with social sciences, wageningen biobased research and others. All projects aim to increase sustainability of the perennial cultivation system by improving resources use efficiency to increase yield, save the environment, providing smallholder farmers with a decent living income. Working with and sharing results with governments, companies, non governmental organisations and multistakholder certification organisations such as RSPO I aim to spread the results beyond the scientific community hoping to affect policies.